Waterless fracking firm to hire 100

Updated 9:10 pm, Friday, June 8, 2012

Gasfrac Energy Services plans to hire 100 workers to service drillers in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Gasfrac Energy Services plans to hire 100 workers to service drillers in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Photo: Mike Fisher

Waterless fracking firm to hire 100

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A Canadian company that uses a new, waterless process in fracking operations plans to build an operations center in Floresville that will serve clients drilling in the Eagle Ford Shale, a company official said Friday.

Gasfrac's operations center is expected to be completed in September on a 20-acre site at El Rancho Grande business park, one mile south of Floresville at U.S. 181 and FM 537.

At a recent job fair in Floresville, “the hiring went pretty well,” Ward said. Many applicants came from Floresville and from San Antonio, he said.

Gasfrac is looking to hire drivers, safety technicians, managers and equipment operators, Ward said. He declined to specify starting pay but said the company offers competitive wages.

Experts say about 5 million gallons of water is needed to hydraulically fracture a well in the Eagle Ford Shale, a rapidly developing oil and gas play in South Texas. Water used in hydraulic fracturing has raised concerns the region's water supplies could be threatened.

Gasfrac's Ward said the company's technology uses a propane gel to fracture rock instead of the usual mix of water, sand and chemicals.

“We are the only 100 percent waterless (well) stimulation process in the world. The beauty of the gel is that it becomes gas again as it returns to the surface. Because it is vaporized, there's no disposal or cleanup. It's a clean hole. All we leave is sand.”

The gel was developed by Chevron Corp., which patented it, while Gasfrac has patents on the process, Ward said.

“We spent two years looking at how to gel it and pump it.”

Gasfrac has landed a two-year contract with San Antonio-based BlackBrush Oil & Gas LP to provide fracturing services for the exploration company's wells in the Carrizo Springs area.

BlackBrush officials weren't available for comment Friday.

Ward said he believes Gasfrac's propane gel will come into wide use when it's better known. “We're still the new kid on the block.”

The company won the World Shale Gas conference's Technological Innovator of the Year in 2011, and last month energy publisher Hart E&P cited Gasfrac as a winner of its 2012 Engineering Innovator awards.